Kennedy flew to Houston Friday night, where his in-laws live. Hespent Saturday morning at Houston’s St. Stephen Presbyterian Church for a town hall with FEMA and residents affected by the storm, and Democratic Reps. Gene Green and Beto O’Rourke, according to his campaign.

The Democratic congressman delivered the keynote speech at Texas Democrats’ Johnson-Jordan dinner in Austin Saturday night, and, doing nothing to quell questions of his higher political aspirations, riffed on the “fight for the character of our country” and the aftermath of 2016 for Democrats: “The lesson we need is a lesson we already know. Do not underestimate what it means to be able to provide for your family. And how deeply it destroys you when you can’t.”

The money quote — "So forget the frantic punditry about Democratic messaging. The hemming and hawing about identity politics. The false choice being offered by armchair quarterbacks telling us we have to pick between voters in Texas or Milwaukee. Pennsylvania or Arizona. The coal miner in Kentucky or the single mom in the Bronx. We choose both. We fight for both. Because both woke up this morning feeling like their country doesn’t really care if they win or lose."

Kennedy’s campaign plans to donate a total of $45,000 to the Hurricane Harvey Relief fund, his campaign tells me. Ahead of his trip, Kennedy sent a fundraising email promising to match donations up to $20,000 for Harvey relief efforts ahead of his Texas visit and ended up raising $22,000 in donations. The campaign will kick in an additional $23,000.

Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: ldezenski@politico.com.

** A message from PhRMA: Are middlemen really holding down the cost of medicines? Biopharmaceutical companies set the list prices for their medicines, but it's your insurer that decides how much you pay out of pocket. More than one-third of the list price is rebated back to middlemen, but these savings aren't always shared with patients. http://onphr.ma/2xoeT5w **

— “Lawmakers weigh overriding Governor Baker’s vetoes,” by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: “House leaders are weighing the prospects of packing vetoed spending back into the state budget when they return to Beacon Hill next week, but the ongoing slump in state tax collections that resumed in August is not making for easy decisions. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Jeffrey Sanchez said he and his office are still reviewing revenue reports for July and August, but he expects the House to take up at least some budget veto overrides when it returns to formal sessions on Wednesday.”

— “Reform before revenue debate rages on,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “Democratic gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren on Friday rode the Red Line into Boston with a Suffolk University student and afterwards told reporters the state needs to invest more in the MBTA. ‘Everyone who rides the T knows this system is broken, it’s inadequate, it’s under-resourced,’ said Warren. ‘The folks that don’t know it are the folks up on Beacon Hill and this governor.’”

— “Looking for the Last of the Power Lunchers,” by Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Boston Magazine: “Is the testosterone-fueled Boston power lunch—for better or for worse—a thing of the past? Or has our Mad Men institution merely gotten a Silicon Valley makeover: healthier, brisker, and a little less fun? (Three-Soylent lunches, anyone?) Either way, I can’t help but think we might be leaving something worthwhile behind.”

TRUMPACHUSETTS —

— “Trump nominates former Mitt Romney speech writer for federal judgeship,” by Travis Anderson, Boston Globe: “He’s an author of horror novels, a former speechwriter for Mitt Romney, and a Harvard Law graduate who says on his website that he studied in ‘witch-haunted Massachusetts.’ And if President Trump has his way, Brett Joseph Talley will add federal judge to his resume.”

— “A Month Has Passed Since Trump Declared an Opioid Emergency. What Next?” by Maggie Haberman, New York Times: “When President Trump announced in early August, following a presidential commission’s recommendations, that the opioid crisis was a ‘national emergency,’ he called it ‘a serious problem the likes of which we have never had.’ A month has now passed, and that urgent talk has yet to translate into urgent action.”

THE WARREN REPORT —

— “Sen. Warren slams Equifax for tricky move,” by Kevin Dugan, New York Post: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren tore into Equifax on Friday for trying to push customers to give up their right to sue the credit monitoring company. Equifax, the victim of massive hack that exposed personal information of as many as 143 million Americans, including Social Security numbers, offered help on its Web site — but by clicking on a button to seek the credit monitoring service persons automatically waived their right to sue the company over the security breach.”

ON THE STUMP —

— DATELINE HOUSTON — “Democrats turn to a Kennedy to boost morale heading into 2018 cycle,” by Jeremy Wallace, Houston Chronicle: “Texas Democrats turned to one of the party's legacy families for a confidence boost Saturday night. And U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III was more than happy to oblige. ‘Ladies and gentlemen there is no secret that we gather tonight in perilous times,’ Kennedy told hundreds of Democrats at a ballroom in downtown Austin Saturday night at the party's annual Johnson-Jordan fundraising dinner.”

— “Mayor Walsh’s record on education shows incremental improvements,” by Meghan E. Irons and James Vaznis, Boston Globe: “As Walsh seeks reelection this year, the state of Brighton High offers a glimpse into the numerous challenges a big city mayor faces in tackling some of the school district’s myriad woes. When he ran four years ago, he promised to make every school a quality school. His rhetoric as a candidate was sweeping and ambitious, but he knew then — and knows even better now as mayor — that school change is hard, and progress often gradual.”

— “‘We need him now more than ever’ — Latinos stump for Mayor Walsh in East Boston,” by Aimee Ortiz, Boston Globe: “Latino community leaders and activists stood with Mayor Martin J. Walsh Saturday morning in East Boston and said together in a resounding voice: Latinos need not be afraid here. With the Nov. 7 election inching closer and the Sept. 26 primary only weeks away, Walsh did not mince words at the official “Latinos for Walsh” kickoff event held on Saratoga Street.”

— “Voters head to the polls Tuesday in Newton, Quincy, and Salem,” by Leslie Anderson, Boston Globe: “The political season begins in earnest this week as residents of several cities outside Boston cast their ballots Tuesday in preliminary elections.”

— “Mike Dukakis: From brink of the presidency to a quiet life of significance,” by Thomas Farragher, Boston Globe: “It happened a lifetime ago, in the days when few people knew who Michael Dukakis was, and still fewer could imagine the life that spread out before him – the long governorships, the bid for the White House, the career today as an academic eminence grise. But what he saw that day 50 years ago at the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, where people with developmental disabilities were dismissed by their doctors and warehoused by a society content to keep them out of sight, has never left him.”

— “Humane care given a place at state’s harshest hospital,” by Michael Rezendes, Boston Globe: “In April, a private firm hired by the Baker administration replaced almost all the guards at Bridgewater State Hospital with a specially trained security force, along with psychiatrists and other clinicians equipped to provide more humane methods of handling distressed patients. Governor Charlie Baker called it ‘a culture change.’ Five months in, the results are remarkable, beyond the imagining of mental health advocates.”

— “Narcan availability on the rise in Cape schools,” by K.C. Myers, Cape Cod Times: “Today, Nauset, Monomoy, and Dennis-Yarmouth districts offer Narcan through their school resource officers, who are at middle and high school campuses full time. Members of Cape Cod Community College’s three-person police force also carry Narcan, said college President John Cox. Narcan is kept in health offices in all the other districts on the Cape, except Bourne Public Schools and Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, largely because Police Chief Dennis Woodside advised administrators that the police could handle overdose response.”

— “In Groton, a community left reeling,” by Amanda Burke, Sentinel and Enterprise: “A street lined with farmhouse estates, a place residents know as a scenic place to walk, was home to a quadruple murder Friday, leaving locals wondering how a young man could seemingly bludgeon to death four people. ‘Everyone is stunned and shocked, and very saddened,’ said a 20-year resident who declined to be identified. ‘I'm praying for everyone involved.’”

— “HURRICANE HONEYMOON: Ledger reporter, wife ride out Irma in Caribbean,” by Zane Razzaq, Patriot Ledger: “Patriot Ledger reporter Ben Paulin and his new wife, Katherine Gerry, spent their honeymoon huddled in a bathroom at a Turks and Caicos resort as a monster hurricane rattled windows and sent trees flying around them. The newlyweds are staying at Seven Stars Resort in Grace Bay on the island of Providenciales.”

— “Hunt In Blue Hills Approved To Help Control Deer Population,” by Boston CBS: “Massachusetts officials have approved a hunt in the Blue Hills Reservation as a way to help control the deer population there. The Department of Conservation and Recreation and Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife backed the proposal.”

— “A new take on old Back Bay private clubs in a bid to attract younger members,” by Kathleen Conti, Boston Globe: “But Sandy Edgerley said the establishment she’s planning for the corner of Berkeley Street and Commonwealth Avenue would be markedly different from such venerable enclaves as the Union, Somerset, Algonquin, and St. Botolph clubs.”

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** A message from PhRMA: Are middlemen really holding down the cost of medicines? Ever wonder who decides what you pay for your medicines? It’s not who you might think. Biopharmaceutical companies set the list prices for their medicines, but it’s your insurer that ultimately determines how much you pay out of pocket. More than one-third of the list price of a medicine is rebated back to middlemen, like insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). These rebates and discounts create savings of more than $100 billion, but these savings aren’t always shared directly with patients. Patients share the costs. They should share the savings. http://onphr.ma/2xoeT5w**